{"id":11724,"date":"2025-08-26T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deltaagile.com\/?p=11724"},"modified":"2025-08-15T14:18:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T12:18:41","slug":"collocation-and-osmotic-communication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deltaagile.com\/en\/collocation-and-osmotic-communication\/","title":{"rendered":"COLLOCATION AND OSMOTIC COMMUNICATION"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Agile approaches support the thesis that face-to-face communication is the most effective way of transferring information. The effectiveness of different media is shown in the table below. Collocation<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Colocation\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Constant (and effective) communication is advocated by the first value of the Agile Manifesto:<\/p>

\u201cIndividuals and interactions over processes and tools\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Collocation<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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To ensure the most effective type of communication within and between teams, Agile approaches recommend collocation. In practice, this means team members work in a shared space. This includes developers, Scrum Masters, and Product Owners. <\/p>

Saab, which developed one of the most complex products – the Gripen fighter jet – using an Agile approach, is an example of such collocation. Due to their multidisciplinary nature, teams were often located directly next to the aircraft prototype. Pilots were part of teams developing flight simulators or planning the cockpit. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Kolokacija\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In Agile manufacturing, multidisciplinary teams are also often located in the same space as production.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Source: Boring Business Nerd<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The level of collaboration that collocation provides is simply not possible with remote team members.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Osmotic Communication (Learning)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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One of the advantages of collocation is osmotic communication. This is unconscious learning, that team members are exposed to, when working in an open shared space. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Practice has shown that a beginner sitting near an experienced developer progresses faster than working alone or with other beginners. The reason for this isn’t just the coaching or mentoring provided by the experienced colleague, but also the continuous reception of information not directly intended for the listener. Examples include how to react to problems, work attitude, the manner and breadth of stakeholder communication, time devoted to specific development phases, meeting frequency, testing frequency, etc. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Scaled Agile frameworks LeSS and Scrum@Scale<\/a> go so far as to suggest the following alternatives to creating distributed teams:<\/strong><\/p>

  1. Additional training for collocated team members to fill knowledge gaps, even though this knowledge might already be available from potential remote members. The time and cost of training should quickly be recovered through the benefits of a fully collocated team. <\/li>
  2. Segmenting products or more independent parts of a single product by physical locations. The overhead associated with coordinating between segments is again offset by the benefits of collocation. <\/li><\/ol>

    Osmotic learning isn’t left to chance. The workspace needs to be arranged in a way that enables osmotic communication. It’s also necessary to consider which teams would be most beneficial to locate close together. Agile development teams often work at a large shared table with the option to isolate in an adjacent room (Caves and Commons<\/a>). <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    The osmotic thinking approach is particularly useful during onboarding when we sit a new employee near experienced team members with the skills the newcomer needs. After all, this additional way of information transfer also partially reduces the mentor’s burden. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    In general, the advantages of osmotic communication can be summarized as follows:<\/strong><\/p>